


A Nice, Scenic Path

by ineedthislikeaholeinthehead



Category: Actor RPF, British Actor RPF, Richlee - Fandom, The Hobbit RPF
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-12
Updated: 2015-01-12
Packaged: 2018-03-07 08:00:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3167429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ineedthislikeaholeinthehead/pseuds/ineedthislikeaholeinthehead
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Richard gets annoyed when Lee wants to take a detour on their hike.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Nice, Scenic Path

**Author's Note:**

> I went on a hike over break and fell into a creek, and my girlfriend got so annoyed at me that she went all northern, and it inspired my RichLee muse.
> 
> Obvious disclaimers- Richard and Lee are their own persons with their own lives, and I own nothing but an over active imagination that likes to pretend that this relationship would make these two wonderful people very happy.
> 
> Less interesting disclaimer- I am sure Lee is a much better hiker than I, and would not fall into a creek. 
> 
> Sorry for any typos. I write everything on my phone. I try to edit but I am sure things get missed.

"That is not a path, Lee." Richard tried to warn, but it was no use, he'd already started hopping from the real path onto a somewhat steep and not in the least bit dry strip of dirt.

"The road less traveled" he says, and Richard swears Lee is part goat, trotting down an impossible angle with the same ease as he would a street.

Then he loses his footing and has to grab the branch of a tree to regain his balance, and that seems much more like the Lee that Richard knows.

"Maybe for a reason, mate."

Lee chuckles. "It's easy. There, there, there." He says, pointing to the rocks that apparently could hold the weight of a full grown (overgrown) man. 

"Come down with me." He says, and he's got those big puppy dog eyes and an outstretched hand that Richard knows he can't say no to. So he sighs, takes Lee's hand and lets the golden retriever guide him down the side of the ditch. 

It was cold and wet out, and not the best day for a walk, but Richard had relented and let Lee convince him that they could go for a nice easy hike. 

And he'd seen the map, there was most definitely a nice little path, lush with trees and with a view of a creek you could enjoy from afar. But Lee had seen a different route.

"The creek will lead us to the same place." He said, hopping down to the bank of the joke of a stream. 

"Yeah, we'll just take the scenic route." He says, hopping from one rock to another, sizing up the tree in front of him before deciding to climb it.

"The path IS the scenic route, Lee." Richard tells him, not exactly happy with how close he's standing to the muddy water, but not about to find a tree to sit in. 

"Come sit with me" he hears Lee say.

"I just got down here, I'm not climbing up there."

Lee jumps down from the branch he's swinging on, right in front of Richard.

"It's not hard." He says, moving behind him, and Richard knows he is going to get some sort of climbing lesson, which he doesn't need or want, so he just focuses on how good Lee feels against his back. "Remember why you put up with this" he says in his mind.

"Look, step there, grab this branch and you're there." And he runs back and does it, then reclines comfortably, like he's in a lounge chair.

"That tree's not going to hold us both, Lee."

"Oh, it'll hold." He says, smiling devilishly. And Richard hates him for a moment, for all that confidence. But it what he loves about Lee too. The bravado, the flirtation, the absolute lust for life, it's intoxicating when Lee's in one of these moods. 

Richard wonders if this is what colonizing explorers were like. Then he remembers that colonizers were criminals, though the description still seemed to fit Lee, who had a bit of the crazy in him.

He follows the instructions, and Lee pulls him up beside him on the same branch and gives him a kiss.

"Watch it." Richard says. There isn't any one down here, but inside the branches of a tree isn't exactly the most private (or safe) place for friskiness. 

"Spoilsport." He says, pressing a kiss into the sliver of neck peaking out between Richard's shirt and jacket. 

"I think I'll be a lot more fun-later, in private- if I haven't fallen from a tree because some one couldn't keep his mind out of the gutter."

"My mind's not in the gutter, it's in the creek." He says. And he jumps down, right to the edge of the water, and gingerly jumps from rock to rock until he's on the other side.

Richard slowly climbs down the tree, because he values his head remaining in one piece, and stops at the waters edge. It's not deep, but it is slippery and cold, and he knows it's not as easy as Lee makes it out to be. 

Like all aspects of life, Lee simply charges in knowing that things will be fun. Richard isn't so easy going. He knows how to wait, how to plan, and how to be safe. And he takes his time walking from each rock as he crosses the stream. 

Lee is lounging in another tree, waiting for Richard. The path is nowhere to be found.

"What now?" Richard asks, hoping that the unexpected excursion is at an end.

Lee's squinting ahead, and Richard knows that look. 

Richard's gotten into sudoku recently, but he's good at crosswords too. Lee doesn't play word or number puzzles, but he has a sight for things that aren't there yet, and this excursion is just another spatial puzzle for him to play with.

He jumps down, and trods through dead branches, over a log half his size, and stands on top of a rock. 

"How the fuck do you expect me to do that?" Richard asks. Lee gets into this mood and it takes some reminding for him to understand that no one else can see what he's seeing.

"Just go through the branches, and you'll see it. " He says. And Richard hates him again because he's right.

They continue on this way, deeper and deeper, it's becoming actually woodsy, but Lee keeps them close to the water. 

"As long as we can see the creek, we can always turn around." 

"Whatever you say, Lee."

It's not that Richard is necessarily against roughing it. But it was December and he was expecting an hour long walk before lunch, and Lee was romping around the forest like Robin Hood- a sentiment Richard was sure not to mention; not needing any smart aleck remarks from Lee.

They (LEE) had gotten themselves right next to the creek. The trees next to the water were strong, but their branches where too high even for the two abnormally tall men to reach, and the embankment was really nothing more than roots and mud.

That didn't stop Lee, who hopped unsteadily onto a big root.

"This isn't wise. Let's turn back."

"It's easy, Rich! Come on, just a couple more feet and we'll be on sturdy ground again."

Richard preferred to stay on sturdy ground at all times, and his feet were firmly planted in it.

"You're crazy. Come back."

"Look, I'll just go up and find the way for you, ok?" He said, but before he's finished, he's slipped, fallen on his ass, and straight into the creek.

Richard snaps into action, grabbing Lee and pulling him back to the embankment with him.

"You bloody fucking fool!" He says, dropping the soaking wet Lee to the ground completely.

"You could have hurt yourself!" He says. Lee gets up and dusts himself off.

"Oh, I'm fine." 

"Because I was there to pull you back. What the fuck were you thinking?"

"It was just a little fall, Rich. I'm fine."

"No, you're an asshole. I'm going back." Richard turns around, and starts stomping through the trees. 

Lee follows behind him and every little branch Richard moves slaps him in the face, a fact Richard takes comfort in, as he curses Lee's immaturity, gruffly, and loudly enough for Lee to hear. 

Lee is trying to stifle his giggles. He's honestly sorry he worried Rich, but there's something about how much more northern Rich gets when he's frustrated and cursing him that goes right to Lee's balls, and it's really hard to concentrate on apologizing when he didn't even hurt himself.

But he keeps trying. They reach a point where Richard's lost the path (because there never was one- just the gambles of an insane manchild) 

"How do I get from here to there?" He asks Lee, his voice still deep with anger. 

"There there and there" and it's as if the right steps illuminate because lee points them out. 

"Thank you." Richard says as he follows Lee's directions.

"You worry me." He admits.

"I know."

"What would I have done if you'd injured yourself? I couldn't carry you all the way back on my own."

"But I didn't get hurt."

"But you could have. And you didn't think about that. And I always think about that. And it terrifies me. I feel like I've always got to look out for you."

"I'm an adult, Richard, you don't have to take care of me if you don't want to."

"Oh, God, Lee, you know I want to take care of you. I just wish you wouldn't go creating ways for me to prove it."

"I'm not."

Richard doesn't know how to respond in a way that won't end with them cyclically disagreeing, and he has no desire to stand in a forest with a soaking wet lover going "yes you are" every time Lee says "no I'm not"

So he turns back around and carries on, attempting to find a way back to the real trail with as little help from him as possible.

They make it back to the side of the creek. Because Lee hasn't done it, or because he's still a little mad, It's not as easy for Richard to see the right way to cross from this side. He sits down by one of the trees Lee had been swinging from earlier, and thinks for a minute. 

"Do you want me to go first?" Lee asks.

"I just want a moment of silence."

"Ok". And Lee sits down, not next to him, but close, and tries his hardest not to bother Richard while he thinks.

It takes him less than a minute to maneuver back the few inches until he's in Lee's arms. And the last of his annoyance dissipates, leaving Richard with only the flutter and burn of love he always has for him.

"I'm sorry I called you an idiot."

"Its ok." Lee says, wrapping his arm around Richard's shoulders.

"I'm sorry I called you stupid."

He softly kisses Richard's neck.

"Its fine."

"I'm sorry I called you a deranged manchild."

"You didn't actually say that one."

"Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure."

"Well, I'm sorry I thought about calling you a deranged man child."

"I'm sorry I made you worry."

"You didn't. You were just being you. And I don't want you to stop being you just because I get anxious."

"I don't want to cause you anxiety. I promise I wasn't trying to test you, I was just goofing around- but you're right. I wasn't thinking about how dangerous it would be if I got hurt, and I wasn't taking into account that you were so far behind me. I was just thinking about having a good time. And I'm sorry."

"That's the thing, Lee. I love how you rush ahead and experience things. I love how much you thirst for excitement. It feels like you see the world as this big dream, and when you take me along, I get to escape those days where it all seems like a big nightmare to me. You shouldn't be tied down to my fear."

"I like being tied to you." He says. "I love being tied to you, because I love you. I don't like making you worry."

"I love you too. And the worry you cause me is the good kind." He says, taking Lee's head in his hands and going him a kiss before getting back up on his feet.

"Now, show me how to get back across here. Preferably with out getting soaked."


End file.
